Day Seven - On the Sixth Day, He Rested

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, so why not get it over with? If you’re looking for Day Six, there isn’t one. Blog, I mean, not that the world skipped a day. I may be good, but I'm not omniscient or all-powerful.

Mondays are not good days for me time-wise. Between work and social commitments, I don’t get home until after ten o’clock at night, which leaves little time to blog. Hell, I’m lucky if I get a beer in.

I did manage to do that. My wife and I had been meaning to try a local brewpub and so we did. BJ's Harvest Hefeweizen was very good, but their Grand Cru, which was a limited edition Belgian-style Strong Ale, was, well, “an acquired taste” as they say. I haven’t acquired it yet. The brew was so dominant in its use of malts and spices that whatever hops they added got lost in the shuffle, making it seem very sweet. Unfortunately they didn’t have the two brews I really wanted to try – their Oasis Seasonal and their Jeremiah Red – so I had to try something else and the Grand Cru was it.

The other unfortunate thing was that we didn’t get home until very late, which meant that not only didn’t I blog, I also didn’t rate the beers on Ratebeer.com. Thus, tonight, I’m playing catch up.

Honestly, I’ve never followed a blog, so I don’t know if bloggers skip a day every now and then or not. If not, then they obviously have no life because (1) it is not unusual for me to have a full day away from the computer and (B) I don’t think I have enough interesting topics in me to write 365 blogs over the next year. Quality, not quantity, is my motto.

What? Either would be fine? Smart ass. I’m trying to be as entertaining as I can be here. Cut me some slack, will ya?

Actually, I’m beginning to get a real appreciation for columnists. Having to come up with a topic on a regular basis to wax philosophically and/or wittily is not easy. I really don’t want this blog to deteriorate into a running commentary on the beers I’m sampling. My vision is to report on the adventure itself rather than the specific products. To be sure, I’m going to mention what I tried on any given day and what that was like, but to copy what I write in Ratebeer.com and paste it here is more than redundant. It is unimaginative. And to a writer, nothing is worse than trying to craft uninspired prose.

I want to weave interpersonal stories, observations, and insights into the common thread of my quest. I want to enlighten as much as entertain, if I can. If nothing else, writing about such things helps me sort out what I think and how I feel about them. The journey is solitary, of course, and if no one deigns to follow along, that’s fine. I don’t think of myself as one who is fully clued into the mysteries of life. I have thoughts and opinions and I’m willing to share them, but I also have no illusions about the profundity of my eruditions. I’m just a guy with a computer, just like anyone else.

Well, a guy with a computer who is on pace to sample 524 different beers over the next 365 days, that is! Today I sampled Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale, a slightly hoppy, but very nice brown ale that finished well.

So, if you’re keeping track – and I am – that is 12 different beers in the last (first?) 7 days. That is quota plus two. A good start, to be sure, but whether that is sustainable is another question. My motivation is high right now, so you should expect me to do well in the very beginning. But what happens four months from now when the novelty has worn off and I’ve got other things going on in my life?

Comparing this quest to a marathon is very apropos. Anyone can sprint out of the starting gate and set a torrid pace, but can that be maintained? What happens at the 10-mile mark when the crowd thins and your sides ache? You’re not even at the halfway point when you begin to wonder if you can really pull this off.

The same, I’m certain, will happen to me. It’s easy to think that ten different beers in seven days is an easily achievable goal, but doing that fifty two times in a row is a bit more challenging. Not from the consumption standpoint – simple math tells me I drink more than 524 servings of beer annually – but from the discipline it will take to track and purchase and blog and rate and record 524 different beers over the course of the next year.

Right now practically anything I buy in a store or restaurant or bar will be something different from a quest perspective even if it is a brand I’ve consumed before. But what about twenty weeks from now? All of the “low hanging fruit” will be gone because I will have sampled over 200 different beers by that point. “What haven’t I tried?” will be a difficult question to answer then. I’ll have to carry a list with me to check against lest the purchase not count towards the goal. And I won’t even be halfway there.

This, then, is ultimately a test of my ability to commit to a quest and stick with it. Regardless of how frivolous it might seem on the surface, I have put my reputation on the line publicly. If I fail, I will do so publicly…all one of you will know that I did not fulfill my quest. Right, honey?

So, if I skip a day here or there with the blogging, give me the benefit of the doubt. In return, I promise to write at least one final blog conceding defeat if I ever decide to throw in the towel.

Heck, even God took a day off.